Wednesday, September 2, 2009

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 1830Z September 2, 2009

Much of US and Southern Canada:
Thin smoke originating primarily from large fires burning in central and
southern California, Utah, northeastern Oregon, and southwestern Canada
(southern British Columbia) had combined into one large mass which spread
eastward and covered a good portion of the US and Southern Canada. Please
refer to the jpg graphic and GIS websites listed below for a graphical
presentation of this widespread smoke. Within this large area of smoke,
were more dense patches. One such band extended northeastward and eastward
from the southern California fires across southern Nevada, Utah, Colorado,
and Kansas. The moderately dense to dense smoke then moved southeastward
over Oklahoma, central and eastern Texas, western Louisiana, and over the
extreme northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Very dense smoke was located much
closer to the active southern California fires and extended southward
to just off the coast of southern California. Moderately dense smoke
from both the California and British Columbia fires was present over
the Northern and Central Plains and extended eastward across southern
Canada to just south of Hudson Bay. Closer to the active fires in
southern British Columbia, at least moderately dense smoke was visible
in some of the valleys. A swath of moderately dense smoke also spread
eastward and southeastward across central Alberta into south central
Saskatchewan province.

JS

More information on the areas of smoke described above as well as others
can be found at the locations listed below.

THE FORMAT OF THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS BEING MODIFIED. IT WILL NO LONGER
DESCRIBE THE VARIOUS PLUMES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES. THESE
PLUMES ARE DEPICTED IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE:

JPEG:   http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/ml/land/hms.html
GIS:    http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm
KML:    http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html

THIS TEXT PRODUCT WILL CONTINUE TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE
WHICH HAVE BECOME DETACHED FROM AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE
SOURCE FIRE, TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. IT WILL ALSO
STILL INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF BLOWING DUST.

ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THESE CHANGES OR THE SMOKE TEXT
PRODUCT IN GENERAL SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov






 


Unless otherwise indicated:
  • Areas of smoke are analyzed using GOES-EAST and GOES-WEST Visible satellite imagery.
  • Only a general description of areas of smoke or significant smoke plumes will be analyzed.
  • A quantitative assessment of the density/amount of particulate or the vertical distribution is not included.
  • Widespread cloudiness may prevent the detection of smoke even from significant fires.